Cuckoo Bird
by Spirit Ryder
Summary: Humanity has spent the past twenty years recovering from Third Impact. Now the angels have returned, seemingly risen from the grave, and threatened to undo everything. Can the few remaining pilots stop them?
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of it's spin-offs. Please support the Official Release.

Chapter 1: To Start Again.

It was just ten numbers, ten little numbers. That's all he had to dial. Ten words and then a simple request from an old friend, that's all.

An old friend who's last contact with him had been three years ago and ended with a long string of German, English, and Japanese swear words

Shinji sighed and closed his phone for the twentieth time in a quarter as many minutes.

It was just a concert, who could say no to that?

Asuka Langely Soryu could. After all she'd done it before.

Perhaps he shouldn't call her at all.

The monorail came to a soft stop, pulling Shinji out of his thoughts.

They had entered Joto ward, which meant he only had a few more stops before he was back at the hotel, good. Osaka would never be home for him. It had friends and the closest thing he had to family left in the world, but there was something about the place that just bugged him. Maybe it was that it reminded him more and more of Tokyo-3 every time he visited, maybe it was the increasingly quite worrying amount of nationalist fervor that griped most of its citizens...

"Hello!"

Maybe it was the fact he couldn't go five seconds without someone bugging him

An older man and woman had walked up to him, a couple probably judging by their matching Hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts, accented by backpacks and cameras tide around their waists. Though the outfit looked rather absurd on the man considering his advanced age and the sheer amount of graying hair that seemed to cover almost every inch of his body.

Shinji had to suppress a groan. Tourists were the worst about this.

"Look if you're about to ask me about what I think you're about to. I'm going to have stop you right there, I do not talk about that part of my life, at all." Shinji had said this lines dozens of times.

The woman, a stocky blond with an incredibly thick Swedish accent, put up her hands

"Oh no, we don't want to talk about _that. _Me and my husband you see, we're big fans of your music, saw you performance in Belfast even."

Well that was a nice surprise.

The woman pulled out a small leather bound book

"Could we get your autograph?"

This was a first for Shinji. Usually this is the point where people start trying to pry just what happened during third impact out of him or ask about piloting. Then there were the people who saw him as some sort of god, devil, or both, those were always frightening to deal with. Even right after a performance someone would find a way to sneak in a question or two about the angels.

The doors to the monorail closed with a soft hiss of escaping air before the whole thing started moving again, rays of the mid morning sun occasionally reaching between the buildings and striking the windows of the car, bathing it all in a harsh light for a moment.

As Shinji gladly started signing the autograph book the woman started making motions for someone to call over while saying something in rapid fire Swedish. Shinji had learned a little of it when he was in college but it had long fallen to the wayside and he barely understood more than a couple words of what she was saying.

A rather short teenage boy walked over and mumbled something incoherent to the woman. He looked very uncomfortable Tugging on the cord of his rather worn and faded blue hoodie tightly so that the only parts of his face visible were his dirty blond hair and pale green eyes.

He stared at Shinji for a second before turning to what Shinji assumed was his mother

He said something again, rather frantically, his now bulging eyes darting back and forward between Shinji and his mother. She replied calmly but quickly, with the only words Shinji understood being his own name and var trevlig, "be nice".

"S-so, you're Sshinji Ikari?" The boy's eyes became fixed at his feet.

"Yeah."

"P-parents really like your w-work." He shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot. "It's."

The monorail stopped at the next station. The boy's eyes immediately went to the opening door. A second later he about ran for the door, claiming in almost incoherent Japanese that it was their stop.

Judging by the confused faces and rapid fire angry Swedish that erupted from his parents as they followed him, it was not.

For a second Shinji stared at the door before shrugging it off and returning to his phone. The couple was a refreshing change of pace and the boy clearly suffered from some crippling shyness but Shinji had encountered far odder in the years since third impact and didn't give them much thought after that.

He flipped open his phone and started dialing. Hopefully this time it wouldn't end with his ears bleeding.

/

*RRIINNGGG *

Maybe it was just a misdial and they will hang up immediately

*RRRINNGGG *

Maybe someone else will hear it and pick it up

*RRRINNGGG *

_Dammit. _

Ria Sazanami Soryu sat up in defeat. She had spent the past ten minutes enjoying the most comfortable position she'd ever discovered on the couch, now likely lost forever to the sands of times and shifting couch stuffing, if only she'd placed the cell phone closer.

She quickly made her way over to the kitchen counter and grabbed the phone, struggling with it momentarily as tried to remember what the pattern was for screen unlock, finally getting it on the fifth ring

"Hello?" She answered, trying her best not to sound annoyed.

"Hi...Ria?" a Man asked in heavily accented German

Ria paused for a second, the guy's voice sounded very familiar but she couldn't quite place it.

"Yes, who is this?"

"Uh, Shinji, Shinji Ikari."

Well now,_ that_ was unexpected.

"Mister Ikari, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Shinji Ikari calling the Soryu house was like a natural disaster. Didn't happen very often, always a surprise when it did, lots of screaming and running around happened during the event, and by the end of the thing the house was in ruins and Ria was hiding under the bed.

She could hear him heisting over the line.

"I, um...I could I talk to your mother? There's something I want to talk to her about."

_Well of course there's something you want to talk to her about, why else would you call? _Ria mused

"What about?" She asked

Shinji stammered and mumbled something about an invitation

This had "ends poorly" written all over it.

Still she couldn't very well refuse him. Momma certainly wouldn't care for it.

"One moment."  
She made her way to her mother's room, carefully steeping over the piles of dirty clothes that so often marked its entrance.

She opened the door to find her mother like she did most evenings bar the weekends, usually. Sleeping hard on top of her covers, dressed in a bizarre combination of work clothes and sleep attire that only exhaustion could produce.

"Mom?"

As if in response she started snoring rather loudly.

Ria sighed.

"Mom there's a call for you."

"Rgehhlaterthpth."

"Mom, Mr. Ikari is on the phone."

That got her attention. Asuka Langely Soryu immediately sat up ramrod straight, her eyes bloodshot but fully open.

"What?"

Ria handed the phone to her mom as she got out of bed.

"He said he wants to talk you about...something, I dunno."

Asuka grabbed the phone and began walking rather quickly towards the kitchen, Ria awkwardly following behind.

"Hello? Oh hi Shinji, no no it's okay. It's good hearing from you." Asuka said, her voice becoming rather awkward at the end.

Ria sat down on the couch and began flipping through an old magazine about science fiction books that had been there for years but neither of them could recall ever buying. Her mom almost certainly knew she was listening but she had to at least be subtle about.

"Oh it's in Osaka, and a solo! That's great that's really great. I'm sure Misato and Touji will have lovely time...Oh, you want me to see it...both of us, I see."

Ria shook her head a tiny bit. This was how the last conversation between them started and odds were it was going to end the same way. Shinji tended to bring brought out the worst in her mother, and the reverse was true as well according to Ms. Katsuragi.

First she was going to make excuses

"Well you see it's just next month Ria's still in school then. Yes I know it's on the weekend I don't want her spending that much time flying with the end of school so close."

Then came the angry denial and potshots.

"No I want to come it's just I have a life you know! Some of us actually have responsibilities you know, I can't just travel around the world at the drop of a hat."

Actually she probably could considering the week's worth of vacation days she'd built up over the years but now was not the best time to bring that fact up.

Then came the baka.

"Listen here you...hello? Hello? The hell?"

"He hang up?" Ria asked, not looking up from the magazine.

"No more like he got disconnected." She explained, starting at the phone with a puzzled look.

"What's so weird about that?"

"It's just, for a split second right before the line went dead I thought I heard...something."

"What?"

"A crash."

/

Pain was no stranger to Shinji Ikari, but it had been a while since he had encounter with it that was this intense.

It happened very quickly. One moment he was on the phone, headed down an all to familiar path with Asuka, the next moment there was this loud, shrieking blast at the back of the monorail, like someone had just fired something giant at it. Next thing he knew the car in back of them crashed into them, sending blades of glass, jagged bits of metal and even a few passengers flying across the car. A split second later their car violently followed suit with the next car. That sent him crashing into a poll behind him, didn't even feel it before he blacked out

For a moment there was pure blackness, then faint hints of formless light, then the distinct smell of something burning close by, finally the previously mentioned massive amount of pain.

He had been thrown outside the car on to the sidewalk below what remained of the monorail line The mono rail lay on it's, crumbled and one end twisted upwards. Glass, metal, and broken pieces of concrete surrounded the thing. Another car had buried itself in the bottom floor of a nearby skyscraper, smoke bellowing out of the open wound.

None of this made any sense

Someone close by was screaming.

Shinji picked himself up, pain coursed through his right leg when he tried to put pressure on it.

There was broken piece of rebar the size of his thumb imbedded just above his ankle, crimson blood dripping steadily off it, staining the cracked road below.

"That's just great." He complained through gritted teeth.

He looked around, the street was disturbingly empty. Only a dazed and ash covered woman could be seen, leaning up against a building across the street. The rest of the passengers must have been in the car, the lack of screams gave him a good indication as to their fate.

What the hell could have happened? A bomb? One of the cults finally went too far? Political extremists perhaps? Didn't sound like a bomb.

The woman across the street suddenly screamed. It was a raw, primal thing of absolute terror. Even from here Shinji could see the fear in her eyes as she stared at something above that.

That something turned out to be an absolutely massive three clawed hand of darkest obsidian black that reached down and grabbed the car Shinji had been riding in and pulled it out of sight

The lady ran in pure terror but ran as fast his injured leg would allow him towards were the care had been. Absolutely stupid but his brain was in denial, it couldn't have been, there was no way.

That's when he saw it.

_No._

He remembered it all too well, from its massive shoulders covered in bone it to its beak like mask of a face.

_No. No. No. No. No!_

It wasn't possible. It was dead, they were all dead.

But the truth was undeniable; an Angel was attacking the city.

/

The Angels could not return

From the Prime Minister to the most fresh face arrival out of Instrumentality, everyone knew this. The mere suggestion of it would be laughed off the most conspiracy obsessed website, though not before whoever suggested it was accused of being some SEELE/Ikari/UN/Japanese/Volgan etc, plant sent there to discredit the rest of them with an "insane" theories.

Regardless, there were plans for this. Hundreds of different plans were suggested and refined over the years by both the Japanese Government and NERV. The new NERV headquarters was built with improved versions of the command centers from the old one. The city of Osaka was rebuilt with multiple auto-cannon, positron, maser and guided missile turrets. Several districts were redesigned with the hydraulic actuation systems of old. Even the Empress herself had an emergency shelter designed to survive an Angel attack, just in case.

Of course no one expected the angels to return, so no one really took the precautions seriously. Many of the turrets had fallen into a state of disrepair because of various budgetary issues over the years, it had been five years since NERV last seriously updated its plans on the subject five years ago, which was still far better than the last update the Japanese Armed Forces had made to their plans over a decade ago. No one was ready for this, not even her.

" I want that Computer up in 30 seconds!" Lieutenant General Misato Katsuragi barked at a no one in particular.

The Command Center was a madhouse. Personal were nearly crawling over the entire place trying to get everything up and running again as holographic footage of the Reborn Fourth Angel's rampage in downtown dominated the Far wall.

They'd let this place fall into disrepair. Months, no, years worth of dust covered just about everything. Many of the computers were broken and all of them were rather out of date. This place was never intended to be more than a research institute and the final resting spot for Unit-02, much of the staff had never even been through a live drill. No one, not even her had seen the need.

Thankfully there were more than a few people who had been on staff the first time around; they at least knew what they were doing.

"The Air Force has scrambled all available assets." Maya Ibuki called out, her left her glued to a phone and her eyes focused completely on a glowing computer screen. "And the Strategic Reserve can have Jet Alone operation in thirty minutes."

_So only half the city would be destroyed by the time they get here. _Misato thought dryly

"It looks just like the pictures of the first angel attack." One of the younger techs commented. Too frightened by what he was seeing on the display to play attention to his work.

_How the hell can this be happening? I watched this thing die. I watched all but one of them die. And now it just appears, quite literally out of thin air? This can't be happened, not now after so long._

Misato pushed the denial out of her head, it was happening.

The Angel grabbed a Monorail car as it straddled the broken remains of the rail line. Thing looked like a child's toy in the beast's massive clawed hands. For a moment it appeared to be staring at it, studying it even. Then it flung to the side casually, like it was nothing more than a piece of paper going into the bin. The city panicked before the monster, she could see massive mobs running away from it, a few others couple be seen kneeling in front of it.

"Do we have anything to throw at it right now that doesn't involve destroying the half the city with an N2?" Misato asked

It would take hours, if not days to get Unit-02 operational. And Asuka was in Germany, Shinji would probably kill himself before being put in the seat again, hell she would probably get arrested for even suggesting it. No dummy plugs, no Rei, nothing.

Mercifully, one of the newer bridge bunnies, Kaede, gave her an answer

"We have a Mark III Positron Cannon coming online in four...three...two...one..."

A turret, that had spent its entire ten years of existence trying not to rust in Osaka Bay, quietly came to life. Its massive armament quickly aimed at the one part of the angel not currently blocked by buildings, its left shoulder. It was a relatively unassuming, it's low profile and white paint scheme designed to make it blend in better with the ships that often surrounded it. Despite that it was one of the most powerful non-N2 based weapons in Japan, it's gun capable of destroying an entire invading fleet in a couple of seconds. With power approaching one fourth of that of the gun used to kill the sixth angel, though with the added benefit of not taking the entire energy network of Japan just to power the thing. Hopefully it would be enough.

A beam of pale blue energy erupted out of the thing, letting out a brief but terrifyingly loud electrical shriek smashing into the angel a moment later.

The thing staggered and crashed into a skyscraper, sending twisted metal, concert and giant shards of glass raining onto the street below.

A few small cheers erupted from the bridge crew as the thing's arm was severed by the cannon at the shoulder, which crashed to the street below, letting out a mighty and sickeningly wet thud as it hit the ground, shattering the street.

The turret stop firing, all six of its main fuses had broken from the strain. Unmanned systems immediately went to work replacing them.

Sachiel never gave it the chance. An uncomfortably familiar cross of boiling energy bloomed on the turret. Bathing the bay in a sickly green light.

They quickly picked themselves out of the wreckage of the skyscraper, smoke pouring out the remnants of its shoulder as chunks of burnt bone fell on the few survivors hanging around the Leviathan being.

Its hollow eyes turned towards the remaining turrets in the bay, some rendered inactive years ago because of cutbacks, others on the verge of coming online. The angel annihilated them all in rapid succession.

Surprisingly instead of returning to its rampage the angel instead focused on the skyline of the city, it's mask twitching from side to side as turned towards the south

"What is it doing?" Misato started to question.

That's when they appeared. Thirty-five Advanced Fighter Jet-VTOL gunships pour into the city from both the east and south. To a conventional force the sight of so many of the olive-green aircraft would inspire terror and panic. She knew it would at most inspire amusement.

The gunships opened fire, pouring everything from hypersonic missiles, to infrared chemical lasers, to rocket propelled bullets the size of battleship shells on it.

Naturally just as it was twenty years ago, they didn't even scratch the thing.

The angel did not strike back this time, instead just chose to stare at them as they poured their fire on it.

"What is it even looking for?" Ristuko questioned as she finally looked up from her computer screens, her face clinched up in utter confusion.

Misato shook her head "I don't know, Unit-02? Revenge? Whatever it was, it appeared to be enough motivations to bring itself back from the dead.

"That can't be the same angel, maybe a clone based off some surviving tissue sample but..."

"Would a clone be able to suddenly appear like that?"

"It's not like the original did either." Ristuko retorted "None of this makes sense."

Misato shot her a look, as if to say "No,_ really?"_

"So what are Magi suggesting?"

"Once I finally convinced Achiral this wasn't a drill, they all unanimously suggested pulling out as many people as we could, to be followed by eighty four N2 mine dropped directly on it by high altitude bombers."

_Subtle. _Misato thought.

Wasn't like they had any real options though, the angel would wreck the city and move on to another one before anything that could oppose it could be brought in. They weren't prepared for this; there was no way they could have been.

Things were too chaotic to organize any sort of effective evacuation, at best she could get NERV and the outlining areas out before they dropped the mines. It would mean the loss of NERV, untold amounts of research on everything from metaphysical biology to space travel, not to mention the likely loss of the only remaining functional Evangelion and thousands of innocent lives.

_Oh god, Shinji!_

That's when the angel dropped straight to the ground like. Not like any of the gunships had done any damage to, no. It collapsed more like a puppet that had just had its strings cut. Falling almost comically backwards into the lower part of an office building nearly taking two gunships with it in the process. Its legs buckled and twisted, its remaining arm laying across its midsection, its core, still solid but the light had gone from it.

The Angel was dead.

Misato let out a choked laugh in relief and utter confusion.

"What...what just happened?"

Maya asked, echoing the thoughts of everyone in the room

/

The blue hologram flickered and occasionally filled with static, a sign of one too many failed attempts made at "improving it", Regardless, this displeasure of the man displayed was obvious.

"You said it would be at least forty years before any of them would pull something like this." The man firmly stated.

The figure watching the display nodded, his face hidden from view by the darkness save for a few strands of long black hair that fell across his young face.

"I know and I apologize, I had underestimated how...eager some of them are."

"You...underestimated them? Katsuragi knows they exist now!"

"She knows one exists now." the figure retorted.

"And how long before the others appear now that Sachiel has opened the floodgate." the man asked pointedly.

The figure shrugged "Month or two, max."

The man was, less than amused by their response. "Our plans are ruined, we." Distortion rendered the rest of his sentence incomprehensible.

"We are far from ruined." the figure replied calmly "merely...in need of quickening. After all Shinji Ikari survived the attack."

The image of the man was crystal clear for a moment "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Shinji is the idol of many a cult and is considered a hero by most others. His death would have united people in grief and rage. As it stands his behavior mirrors that of the public, confusion and terror. While not ideal at this step, it is workable."

"Workable." The man repeated with annoyance.

"Your institute must learn to adapt to if either of us are ever to rise again." The figure gestured to the room he was standing in; a tiny, run down thing of cracked, unpainted concrete and mold. Lit only by the pale blue light of the holographic projector.

The man visibly clenched his jaw.

"We will contact you again five days and four hours from now, at site J. You will have a two minute leeway window in which to contact us. I expect some firm answers on how you will handle this situation by then, understood?"

The man disappeared from the display, causing the projector to automatically cut off a moment later.

Unseen by anyone, a thin smile formed on the figure's face.

"And so the war begins anew"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: To the New and the Old.

To the late Gendo Ikari and Seele it was Sachiel, the Price of God. To the Public and the military it was known as the second, few knew of the third and even fewer liked to classify Lilith as an angel these days, but to Misato it was and would always be the Fourth Angel.

An old hated boiled with Misato at the sight of it. They were dead, she helped send them all to the grave, humanity had _won_. What right did it have to exist again? How did it exist again?

Misato stepped out of the massive tent that had been eradicated over it's corpse. Covering much of the street in massive gray boxes made out of specialized fabric. In part because of her anger, but there was also the smell.

The Angel was rotting away, quickly.

No one was sure why, though there was little about this angel that anyone was sure about, but since the moment it died this thing started to decay rapidly, a piece fell off and dissolved into so much Red Liquid over there, a bit of the remaining arm bone turned black with rot there. Like the thing had so little life in it to begin with that the nature was just waiting for the chance to destroy it.

Now, twenty hours after the attack. Little remained save for it's core and bones, covered in bloated pieces of rotting meat that had turned into a variety of nauseating colors.

Like everything else about the Angel, this didn't make a bit of sense. Most of the angels last time died leaving barely anything more ash and blood. But a few left corpses, and they didn't decay, at all. As if nature didn't recognize or couldn't handle it's existence. Plenty of samples still survived in vaults buried beneath Osaka and London-2. At this rate she would be lucky if any traces of this thing survived the day.

"Misato! There's a couple of things I need to talk to you about." Ristuko said urgently, her voice distorted by the large gray gas mask the dominated the lower part of her face. Though it was easy to see the confusion painted across the rest of her aging face.

Misato reattached her own mask and followed Ristuko back into the tent.

"We finally pulled the core away from the rest of the body." Ristuko explained as they walked passed teams in white, full-body hazmat suits pulling apart the bloated remains of the Angel's left leg.

"We've found something on it that may at least explain how it died."

Even with the mask, the smell was horrible. Like a body left in a swamp for a few weeks then thrown out on the beach on a dangerously hot July afternoon. It was all Misato could do not to gag.

A team carrying a large section of green bone locked in a heavy glass and steel case shuffled passed the two older women in hurry. Only giving the briefest of nods to their commanding officer. Misato barely even noticed.

"What is it?" She asked

"It's better if you see it for yourself first." Ristuko said as they entered another section of the tent.

"Stop! Put that down before you break the whole damn thing!" The angry shrill voice of Maya Ibuki-Akagi greeted them as they entered.

She stood in the center of the vast room, covered shoulder to toe in hazmat equipment, with a similar gas mask to Misato's own covering her face. Only Misato didn't have a gas mask pressed so hard against hers it was practically wielded on.

Misato's eyes turned to the left side of the room, to the core. It wasn't as impressive as she might have thought. It was big certainly, tall as a tank stood on end and just as long. Deep red in color and only covered in the smallest bits of rotted meat clinging to it's form.

Like the rest of the body, it was falling apart. Chips fell off even as she watched it, cracks ran along the entire length of the thing, the color was draining away from parts of it, and most obviously, a deep jagged wound about a meter around in the middle of the thing. It was far more rough and angular compared to the other marks on the core, like it had been struck with a great deal of force.

Must have been important too considering the number of devices Maya's rather terrified subordinates had hooked up to it.

"I don't understand. The core was undamaged when the thing died."

"On the outside." Maya explained "This wound was on the internal side."

"...What." was all Misato could muster.

" I know." Maya nodded sympathetically

"But that doesn't make any sense."

"I _know_. at first I thought the boys had just screwed up or something but the evidence is pointing towards this being an actual wound, perhaps the fatal one."

So they had a angel that shouldn't be alive, appearing in the city in a way that shouldn't be possible, only to die to a wound inflicted by no one, at a spot that couldn't be reached.

_Lovely._

Misato buried her head in her hand, for lack of anything better to do.

"Okay, what was the other thing you wanted to talk to me about?" Misato asked, her mind filled with the image of the angel's head being filled thousands of angry Hornets or something equally as absurd.

Ristuko motioned for her to move to a corner, which they did. Leaving Maya to her busy work of yelling at people and monitoring equipment that told her in just how many ways this was impossible.

"Apparently NERV's been getting a number of calls recently from higher ups in the government."

"Which I answered."

"Yes well they're now very curious as to why you won't transfer the second child here."

"Because we have alternatives." Misato protested

"Alternatives you once said were useless."

"That was twenty years ago." Misato's voice elevated ever so slightly.

Ristuko pressed "Is it any less true now?"

She hesitated

"Even if it isn't, Asuka would never willing pilot again and legally, I can't force her."

"You and I both know there's another way to make her pilot."

Misato was stunned, to bring up _that_ option so casually, that was cold even for her.

"You...can't be serious? I swore to her I would never"

"Last call was from her handmaiden." Ristuko interrupted. "Not just any handmaiden, her _first. _She apparently has as little faith in Jet Alone Prime and this TRIDENT program as I do. She _was_ very insistent about getting her here."

Misato suppressed a swear. Refusing Ristuko was easy, even the prime minister would be a simple matter but her...refusing her was a good way to wind up out of a job, or worse. Even NERV wasn't beyond her wrath

"But it's only been a day. She can't seriously be putting the pressure on this quickly. For all we know it could have been a one time event."

Ristuko sighed, more at the situation then her.

"She doesn't believe so. According to my sources she preparing for the worst. Got the whole Cabinet convinced the angels are trying for a fourth impact."

Misato leaned against the side of the tent, punching her open palm over and over again in frustration. If she refused they would likely force her out and someone who would just go through with the second option, if she used the threat of it though...

"You realize if I do this, she'll hate me forever."

"She'll despise all of us. But we have far bigger things to worry about now.

Hesitantly, Misato nodded her head in agreement.

"I'll make the call."

/

Nothing like a good workout to put your mind at ease.

Yes sir few things are better at getting your mind off...that thing then a few set of push-ups

"1...2...3"

Not thinking about it, totally not thinking about the angels...dammit.

"4...5...6"

It's okay, they're thousands of miles away, no reason for them to come here, no reason to go there so just stop thinking about it Ria.

"7...8...9"

You're thinking about it aren't you?

"35...36...37"

Yep, totally thinking about it.

Stop that, stop it right now. Focus on normal teenage stuff like School, computer games, working out, and err...ponies.

The front door opened with a slam that seemed to shake the entire apartment

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

Or the fact that mom just screamed loud enough to shatter the windows, let's focus on that.

Ria bolted up and began ran to the living room, just in time to see her mother throw her cellphone at the wall, so hard that the small blocky thing shattered like a tiny grenade, raining little tiny pieces of plastic all over a nearby fern.

She watched her standing there, shaking in what appeared to be pure rage. A dozen profantintes on her lips, tears filling her angry eyes.

"She said she would never"

"Mom?" Ria asked nervously

Asuka turned to her daughter, the anger in her face replaced with despair

"What's wrong?"

Her lips quivered as she struggled to say the next few words.

"We're moving to Osaka. M-misato needs me to pilot again." The general's name leaving a disgusted look on her face.

Her answer was unsurprising though it still hit Ria hard.

She always knew this could be a possibility but now, she was terrified, absolutely terrified. Mom couldn't handle that, she couldn't handle that.

"Why?" Ria blurted out. "She can't make you."

"Turns out she can."

"How?!"

Asuka stared at her, blue eyes stared deeply into their twins for a second.

Nothing was said, nothing needed to be said.

"Oh" was all Ria could manage as she tried desperately.

Asuka walked over to the fridge and took out a large bottle of wine, muttering "That traitorous bitch" as she poured herself a glass

"I'm sorry." Ria said finally.

"No." Asuka said firmly "Not your fault. Don't even think that. She was the one promised...so much."

For a moment the room was silent save the sound of Asuka surprising an angry cry as she took another drink.

"You're not going to send me away, are you?" Ria finally asked

She shook her head. "Anyone I would even remotely consider trusting lives in Osaka."

"What about Mr. Ikari, he doesn't live there." the question escaped Ria the moment it entered her head

For a terrifying moment her mother seemed to consider the option before dismissing the thought with a sigh "No, even if _she _lets him out of the country, he's not going to be in the state to handle a puppy, let alone you."

"...I suppose we should start packing." Asuka said with a resigned sigh.

/

**Two days later**

Shinji Ikari was running away. Though he very much doubted NERV would mind this time.

Bags were packed, arrangements had made for a room in Dijon, concert here had been canceled, his wounds.

A white hot prick of pure pain shrugged through his leg as he made his way up the stairs.

Well they hurt like a son of a bitch but they weren't going to kill him, doctors wanted him to stay longer but all Shinji cared about was getting the hell out of here.

They didn't need him, hell him staying would probably distract them.

He couldn't fight anymore so why stick around?

Shinji pushed his way through the crowd, do his best to keep his jacket pulled tightly around his head. The last thing he needed right now was somebody in the train station recognizing him.

Place was backed nearly to the brim with people. The outright panic of the first couple days had been masked with simple fear and dread. The people appeared calm but it was obvious they all had same idea as Shinji.

Flee.

He made his way to a ticket counter, manned by a clearly overworked redheaded American Woman.

"I'd like the next available train out of town." Shinji said in the best calm voice he could muster

"I'm sorry sir, all currently scheduled departures are booked solid." The girl droned, clearly having said this dozens of times already.

Shinji pulled a Silver card out of his wallet. " I have a V.I.P membership, surely you must have a seat set aside for people like me right?"

One of the few advantages to being a former pilot was NERV would give you just about anything if you asked for it.

The woman shock her head sadly "All of those are booked too sir."

Shinji muttered under his breath, this had been his last option. "You don't have anything? I need to get out of here."

_If I stay it will only make things worse._

Her looked turned to annoyance "You and everyone else in this station sir. I'm sorry but we're booked, your better of driving or taking a plane."

Shinji slammed his hands on the counter, startling the woman and few people nearby

"Airports are closed, ports too. I don't have a car, and even if I did the highways that are still open are so packed with cars it would be quicker to walk out. I know other people need to get out but I'm desperate here."

_I shouldn't be here, I'll just cause problems if I stay._

"Hand me your card." The woman said, clearly eager to get rid of him.

He handed it to her and she slid it on the console in front of her.

"Alright Mr. Ikari" she said while tapping repeatedly at the screen in front of her "I can't get you a train now but if anyone misses the next few trips to Kyoto I put you on the top of the list for replacements."

_Crap_

A few heads immediately turned in his direction.

"Okay good." Shinji said as he frantically. "Now could you please not mention my name again and give me my pass or whatever and letmegoplease."

The woman's faced scrunched up in anger as she prepared to let out an angry rant brought on by a the stresses of an incredibly busy twelve hour shift. Then she caught sight of the name on her screen.

Her eyes bulged.

"Oh." She said

A hand grabbed Shinji by the shoulder and yanked him around.

In front of Shinji now was a man, no older than twenty five. An office worker judging by his outfit, his face was clinched up with tension, what must have normally been finely groomed hair now lay across his forehead and ears and disorganized mess. His eyes were filled with terror and hope, his hands clutched hard around a some sort of medallion.

The Medallion itself was an upside down triangle with Seven Eyes, all done in a deep metallic purple.

_Crap!_

"Listen" Shinji began.

The man falls on his needs, his arms folded in prayer.

"Why would you forsake us in our hour of need?!" He begged

Shinji stared at the man blankly.

The loud noise of a thousand people talking and going to and fro about the terminal died down just a bit

"NERV will handle it." he stammered, looking desperately for a way to escape the man without causing a scene

"Not without you!" the man pleaded. "This is your scared duty."

"No it isn't!"

"Sir I'm going to have to ask you to step away." The ticket lady warned the man as more and more eyes turned towards Shinji

"But you're the third child." he protested

A woman behind him started to panic

"The third child flees? w-what hope do we have?!"

More people joined it. Some desperate for answers, others enraged at him for attempting to "abandon them", still others begging him to stay.

Soon Shinji found himself surrounded , pinned to the counter by an ever increasing number of desperate people. The clerk started to panic as she about screamed for security over the phone.

He'd never seen this many people this upset, there had been the occasional nutter who broke into his hotel and demand why their husband hadn't come out of Instrumentality yet but this...these people where going to rip him apart.

"NERV will take care of this, don't worry." Shinji's words were lost in a sea of shouts and cries

_There's nothing I can do to help_

"You'll be fine, please leave me alone." he begged, only serving to further enrage those who heard him

_I did my duty _

"I can't even pilot anymore!"

"But you're god."

"No I'm not!" Shinji screamed

"Help us!"

"Leave me alone." He begged

"Save us!"

"Leave Me Alone!"

"SECTION 2, ON THE GROUND!"

The lobby was soon flooded with the dark armored security forces of NERV. Shinji quickly found himself surrounded by the them, with the mob either bolting or on the ground, crying out in confused anger.

He was safe, for now.

/

An ugly red stain marks the world. It extends from the coast of southern Japan to Gulf of Aden, all the way towards the shores of Chile, occasional reaching as far as shores of France. A daily reminder for many of what was taken from them, and how close they were to losing everything. To one Shinji Ikari it is a reminder of one bad moment, and a mistake he'll never be able to fix.

It was instrumentality, the well of souls, a living monument to third impact.

For a brief moment years ago it held every human soul that existed save one, then Asuka emerged, followed quickly by hundreds of others, then thousands, then millions. Within a year sixty five percent of the world's population had found a way to deal with the pain and return to life . That's when the returns started to die down.

Millions became hundreds, dozens, and even singular individuals appearing on the shores of the world on any given day. People were forced to accept the fact that they might never again mothers, sisters, lovers and sons. Entire governments never returned, leaving their countries to fall into chaos and ruin, but life moved on.

People still emerge, unchanged from the day they entered. Finally working up the will to tear themselves away from the collective, only to find their spouses dead and their children older than them. Some adjusted, some went insane when the unity survivors of Instrumentality had proved to not be enough support for them to handle this new reality.

What fate lay in store for the most recent wash up remains to be seen.

He cough violently, his mouth filled with the taste of sea water and something far worse.

He tosses and turns across the sand as his mind is bombarded with memories that were not his own.

Newly formed lungs cried out in pain and confusion as the boy stumbles across the beach.

Finally he opens his eyes and for the first time in twenty years, Kensuke Aida gazed at the world.


End file.
